Affiliate Marketing Secrets

I’m fairly new to SEO however I have read and studied on this A LOT so I don’t need basics.. I have done article submission, blogs, etc. I realize my site is new but I also know good SEO can get the newest sites on top of search engine lists. Right now my main issue is getting quality backlinks and I just can’t seem to figure out how to do it properly. I don’t want junk links to link exchanges are NOT what I want.. I have asked personally to some of the top ranking webmasters in my niche and none of them will link. Please help me?? My niche is art, more specific is hand drawn portraits and my site is http://www.portraitsbysamantha.com . Thanks so much!